Seat adjusters, both manual and powered, are provided on most automotive vehicles. One of the most common seat adjustments is fore and aft movement of the seat with respect to the vehicle. To provide such fore and aft seat adjustment, the seat assembly is typically mounted on first and second spaced seat track assemblies. Each seat track assembly is formed by a lower seat track anchored to the vehicle floor, and an upper seat track connected to an upper support frame or bottom of a seat assembly wherein the upper seat track is slidably mounted to the lower seat track. To allow the upper seat track to slide with respect to the lower seat track and provide the fore and aft seat adjustment, a bearing or low-friction sliding surface is commonly provided between the metallic surfaces of the upper and lower seat tracks.
Plastic members called "slides" are commonly utilized as low-friction surfaces to reduce the friction between the upper and lower seat tracks of the seat track assembly and provide the fore and aft adjustment of the upper seat track with respect to the lower seat track. Typically, the slides have a shape complementary to both the lower seat track and the upper seat track so as to mate and complement the configuration between the upper and lower seat tracks.
Besides the complementary shape of the slides, the slides are often tenuously held in place within the seat track assembly by a type of retaining feature. One known retaining feature provides cylindrical pins which extend outwardly from the slides and are inserted through corresponding apertures within the side wall of the lower seat track of the seat track assembly. Thus, the cylindrical pins prohibit movement in a plane normal to the longitudinal axis of the pins which includes fore and aft movement of the slide with respect to the lower seat track of the seat track assembly. Linear movement along the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical pins of the slide is generally restrained by the complementary structure of the slide and the upper seat track of the seat track assembly.
It would be desirable to provide a seat track apparatus that retains the slide within the seat track assembly during all phases of the assembly process as well as during all modes of operation. It would also be desirable to provide a seat track apparatus that retains the slide and is inexpensive, does not require additional parts, and does not considerably increase assembly time.